Lavatory device.



D. J. MATTHEWS.

LAVATORY DEVICE APPLICATION FILED FEB. 5, 19x3.

Patented Jan. 6, 1914.

In verzz or:

W'Z'tn eases avid J ifazzlz ewa. 57M Attorn UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTGE.

DAVID J". MATTHEWS, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TOHILL EDWARD BROWN, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

LAVATORY DEVICE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID J. MATTHEWS, a citizen of the United States,and resident of the city of Seattle, in the county of King and State of"Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inLavatory Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a towel and soap delivering mechanism, andcomprises the parts and combination of parts hereinafter described andparticularly pointed out in the claims.

The object of my invention is to provide a device which will hold asupply of paper towels; these to be in the form of a roll and from whicha section of the roll may be obtained when desired; and to combine'withthis a soap container, or for a washing compound, which is an equivalentof soap, and mechanism whereby a suflicient supply of this soap orwashing compound may be ob tained when desired.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown my invention embodied in theform which is now preferred by me.

Figure l is a sectional elevation of my device. Fig. 2 is a frontsectional elevation of my device, taken upon the line X X of Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of my device taken upon the line Y Y ofFig. 1, except that the paper feed rolls are not shown in the section.Fig. 4 is a section taken upon a horizontal plane, just above thecutting-off knife.

In carrying out my invention I employ paper towels in the form of aroll; said roll being shown in Figs. 1 and 3 at 1. This roll is,preferably, of a character such that the roll as a whole may beinserted, and, when the paper thereon has been used up, the central coremay be removed and a new and full roll substituted therefor. To thisend, I provide bearings, 10, at each end; one of these bearingspreferably being spring held as is shown at the left in Fig. 1.

The paper composing the towels is led from this roll over a set of feedwheels or a roller 2, and thence through a suitable guide as 20, and anexit slot 21; the latter being herein shown as located in the under sideof the casing A; although it is evident that the exit slot may be placedin another position should this be, for any reason, desirable.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 5, 1913.

Patented Jan. 6, 1914.

Serial No. 746,416.

The shaft 22, upon which the feeding pulleys, or roller is mounted, hasthereon a pinion 23 which meshes with a gear 24, which gear is hereinshown as mounted to turn upon the same axis as the axis of the towelroll 1, although this feature is immaterial.

I provide a lever 3, pivoted upon the same axis as the wheel 24, bywhich this wheel may be turned in order to actuate the towelfeedingmechanism, which the lever 3 should have an alternating baclrancl-for-thmovement, while the gear 2% should have a movement in one directiononly. To secure this result, I provide some form of ratchet-or clutchmechanism for connecting the lever with the wheel. This may be providedby securing to the side of the wheel 2 1, a ratchet wheel 25, andmounting a pawl upon the lever in position to engage this ratchet wheel.The same result may be secured by a pulley mounted upon a lever andadapted to engage the exterior teeth of the wheel. To return the lever 8into its normal posit-ion, or that occupied when the device is not inuse, I provide a spring; the same being herein shown as a spiral spring26, resembling in its type that of a clock spring.

When the lever 3 is thrown downward, the large gear wheel 2% is turnedthrough a co-nsiderable segment, and, being much larger than the pinion23, this, and the feed rollers attached thereto are turned a sufficientamount to feed out a suflicient section of the toweling to answer for asingle use. This is projected through the slot 21 in the casing.

When the lever 3 reaches the lowermost part of its movement, it strikesa lever 30, or, as I have herein shown, a finger 31, which is integrallysecured to this lever, and which extends across the lowermost end of theslot 32 in the casing within which the lever swings.

The lever 30 is pivoted concentric with the lever 3 and its lower endengages with a knife 33, which is pivoted at one end and is adapted toswing across the slot 21.

The edge of the slot 21 and the edge of the lever or bar 33 are adaptedto co-act and form shears, thus severing the section of paper which hasbeen protruded through the slot 21. This movement may be limited in sucha manner as to not entirely sever the protruded section of the towelingand leaving it hanging by a small, unsevered portion at one edge. Thiswill prevent the possibility of the towel dropping. The same result maybe secured by shaping the cutting surface by which the towel is severedso as to leave one or more small unsevered sections by which the towelis held in place. These sections should be sufficiently small that theywill readily tear away when the end of the towel is pulled away.

In connection with the towel-delivering mechanism above described, Iprovide a soap container, and means by which a small portion of thecontents thereof may be protruded. By the term soap as herein used, Imean to include any type of material which is to be used for cleansingpurposes, such as powders, pastes, etc.

The soap container, as I have herein shown it, consists of a cylinder 4,which depends from the main casing and terminates in a conical lower endhaving a small opening therein. The material which is supplied to thiscontainer should be of a somewhat pasty character, such that pressureapplied thereto will cause it to flow through the opening 40, at itslower end, yet of sutficient stiffness that it will not flow throughthis opening by its own weight. Within this container is a piston 41carried upon the rod a2, which is screw-threaded and of sufficientlength that it may have a movement equal to the full length of thecontainer.

In supplying the soap material to the container, I prefer to have sameput up in small and cheap containers, of such size as will snugly fitthe container a; and so constructed that both ends may be removed. Iwould then place such a cartridge within the container 4:, the ends ofthe cartridge having been removed, and apply the piston &1 to the upperends thereof. In case this method of supplying the soap material isemployed, the piston 41 should be made sufficiently smaller than thecontainer 4 to accommodate the thickness of the shell of the cartridge,so that the piston may be reciprocated within said cartridge.

The piston 41 and its screw-threaded rod a2 are held from turning in anyconvenient way, as by means of a spline or key-way and key. Upon thestem 42 is mounted a bevel pinion 48, which is provided with areleasable nut member 44, adapted to engage the threads upon the stem 42and thus to force the piston downward as the pinion 43 turns.

The pinion 4:3 meshes with a bevel gear 45 which is operated by a levere 6 which is preferably located close alongside the lever 3, by whichthe paper feeding roll is operated. This lever is adapted to be engagedwith and turn the wheel 45 by a pawl and ratchet arrangement similar tothat described in connection with the gear-wheel 2%. As herein shown,this consists of a ratchet wheel 47 mounted upon the shaft of the wheellf) to a pawl 48 carried by a lever 46.

I prefer to have the towel-delivering and soap-feeding mechanisms sothat the toweldelivering mechanism, at least, may be operatedindependently of the soap-feeding mechanism, as many persons may wish touse the towel without using soap. At the same time, it will always bedesirable to use the towel whenever soap is required; therefore I havemade the two operating levers as separate, but have provided a lever el6by which the soap-feeding mechanism is actuated, with a pin I9, whichprojects so as to engage the lever 3; this pin being back of the lever3. In consequence, the operation of the lever 3 will not operate thelever a6 to feed the soap, while the operation of the soap-feedingdevice means the simultaneous operation of the towel-deliveringmechanism.

In many cases it may be desirable that the towel, when projected fromthe casing should not be permitted to hang down its full length as itmight drop over or into the wash basin, or for other reasons he in theway. I therefore mount upon the casing retaining fingers 5 which curvebelow the slot 21 and are adapted to engage and hold the towel againstdropping down where it will be in the way. These retain the towel in afolded mass or roll, just below the casing where it may be easily gottenat and removed when desired.

What I claim as my invention is;

1. In a towel dispensing mechanism, in combination, an inclosing casing,.a pair of journal bearings adapted to receive between them the axis ofa roll of towel webbing, a gear wheel journaled co-aXially with butindependent of the bearings for said roll, an operating leverindependently pivoted about the same axis, a ratchet orone-way-operating connection between said lever and gear wheel, a webfeeding roller, a pinion secured to turn with the web feeding roller andmeshing with the said gear wheel, a web cutting mechanism and anoperating lever therefor pivoted concentric with the main operatinglever and engaged thereby during the latter part of its stroke to severthe web.

2. In a towel dispensing mechanism, in combination, a pair of alined butseparated journal bearings adapted to receive between them the aXis of aroll of towel webbin a gear wheel pivoted to turn about a common axiswith said journal bearings, an operating lever pivoted alongside of saidwheel to turn upon the same aXis therewith, a ratchet or one-wayoperating mechanism connecting said lever with said wheel, a springacting to return said lever, a web feeding roll, a pinion connected toturn said web feeding roll and meshing with said gear wheel, a webshearing mechanism engaging the web after passing the feeding roll, alever pivoted concentric with the main operating lever and connectedwith the web shearing mechanism, and provided with a finger extendinginto the path of travel of the main operating lever at the latter end ofsaid path, and a spring acting to open the web shearing mechanism.

3. In a towel dispensing mechanism, in combination, an inclosing casing,two separated and alined pivot bearings adapted to receive the axis of aroll of towel Webbing between them, a towel feeding roller about whichthe towel webbing passes after leaving its roll, the casing having aslit for the discharge of the webbing after passing the feeding roller,one side of said slit being adapted to act as one half of a shearingmechanism, a shearing bar or knife extending alongside said slit andpivoted near one end thereof, a main operating lever pivoted within thecasing and having an end project ing therefrom, a ratchet mechanismconnecting said lever with the feeding roller, a knife actuating leverpivoted concentric the main operating lever and having a part thereofextending across the latter part of the path of the main operatinglever, and spring returning mechanisms for both levers.

l. The combination with a towel supplying mechanism having a manuallyactuated operating member, a soap supplying mechanism having a manuallyactuated operating member, said operating members being located adjacentand having like movements, and means carried by one of said operatingmembers and extending into the path of movement of the other operatingmember, whereby the two will be operated together when one member isactuated and only one will be operated when the other is actuated.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature at Seattle,Washington, this 29th day of January, 1913.

D. J. MATTHEWS.

Witnesses:

H. E. BROWN, H. L. REYNOLDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

